Reading up on recipes

The article explains that to make flavorful pasta salad, cook pasta slightly underdone, toss it with dressing and pasta water while warm, and add delicate ingredients just before serving.

Seven simple ingredient additions and technique tweaks — including cornstarch, brown butter, spices, and acidic finishes — can significantly improve scrambled eggs.

Claire Saffitz shares a recipe for a strawberry-almond cookie studded with pistachios and macadamia nuts as part of NYT Cooking's Cookie Week.

Creamy mashed potatoes can be made using only potatoes, sour cream, and the reserved starchy cooking water, omitting butter and milk.